Lynx spiders

Family Oxyopidae

The family of the Oxyopidae contains two genera in Australia, Oxyopes and Peucatia. The last one contains one described species. The genus Oxyopidae contains fourteen described species

The spiders can be found on grass and low herbage.
The long legged hunting spiders are capable of running very fast and jump on their prey like a cat. This is why their common name is lynx spider.
They do not make a web but activily hunt their prey.
Although their eyesight is not as good as that of the jumping spiders they can see their prey from a distance of up to 10 centimeters. They have two large front eyes besides a smaller pair, two on the side of their head and two large ones looking above and backward giving them an almost 360 degree view
Often these spiders are abundant and very colourful.
The spiders are active during day-time, preferable in the sunshine, running and jumping over leaves and grasses.

Below: Australian Oxyopes macilentus guarding her cocoon.

The male performs a dance before the female using it legs, abdomen and especially his palps.
The female spider spins a cocoon that she attaches to a plant. She will guard the eggs until they hatch.

The spider can be easily be identified by the very long spines on their legs and their eye setting. Their abdomen is like a pencil ending in a point. The size of these spiders is between 4 and 10 mm.